Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Join the party at my new home! New address/Same Great Info

Join the party at the new site!
I've taken my pots, pans, butter, olive oil, artichokes and capers over to Wordpress. Join the party and head over!

This way, all my blogs are in one convenient spot. Same great info and gluten free community, different address... If you follow this blog, be sure to head over to the new site and follow along so you don't miss anything. And if you're not following the Facebook site, head over to Facebook/Gluten Free in AZ.

We're at www.glutenfreeinaz.wordpress.com

See you there!

Sunday, August 5, 2012

My GF Pizza Obsession Continues at Detours Tavern

White pizza with kale, broccoli and mushrooms...YUM!
OK, once again we are back on pizza. I know, I know, you're sick of me harping on the GF pizza quest. It's my obsession to find something that comes close to real pizza, as you know. But trust me on this, it's working. Last night, I got closer than I've gotten in a long time.

A dear friend invited me to dinner and said, "I saw gluten free on the menu, so let's go." Of course, that made me nervous, who knows what's there and how they make it, right? But I always figure I can have a salad, and I'm touched that she thought of me and I love that she wanted to go with me.

Cut to a few nights later as we sit in Detours Tavern in Scottsdale. Not too much ambiance, more of a sports bar feel,  but not bad and it is clean. It used to be a Chinese restaurant that was anything but clean. So nice to see that gone at least. I checked the menu and noticed a few things I could order, but then noticed they had pizzas and a little note saying they had gluten-free pizza. Hmmm, after checking with the server, who assured me that they put the gf pizzas on a separate pan to bake and use separate utensils, I ordered a white pizza with kale, mushrooms and broccoli. One word-Wow! Thin, crispy, light, chewy, amazing. And it's huge, not the usual tiny GF pizza that costs a fortune and isn't worth the money. This did cost about $12, but it was totally worth it.

Of course, that meant I had to grill the poor guy for all the particulars. He said they get it from Sysco and he thought it was made in AZ somewhere. The owner wasn't there and he said he'd call me with the information. Of course, I couldn't wait for that so I checked on my phone and found out that Sysco has three GF pizza crusts available- Schar, Ener-G, and Pane Riso/Kingsmill. It didn't look like the Schar crusts, which I've seen before. But all the options have no eggs or gluten, which makes them work for EF/GF Daughter. Yay.
Quinoa salad over raw kale

My friend chose the quinoa salad over kale. It's filled with black beans, corn and more. Yummy! There was a light vinaigrette over the salad and mixed in with the kale, which was raw on the bottom. The quinoa flavor wasn't masked by the dressing, which is sometimes the case with most restaurants. I'm getting this next time, if I can resist not eating another pizza.

And one thing this restaurant does is serve big entrees. We shared both and were stuffed when we were done. You could easily have shared with another person, but I'm sure glad nobody else was there.


I highly recommend this place for a relaxed, casual dining experience. There aren't a ton of GF items on the menu, but what they have looks and tastes wonderful. They have a full bar and flat screens all over, so I'm guessing on game night it's The Place To Be. My friend said their sweet potato fries were wonderful, but unfortunately they are fried in contaminated oil with breaded food. Only bummer of the night.